Gibson exhaust installed on 06 LE
Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 11:08 am
Ok, so after damn near a full month wait, I got the Gibson SS system on. With Triffd's info from other posts I felt armed for success. And it pretty much worked out that way. Maybe I'm just not that good but I really wish Gibson would have done figured out the bends on that last rear pipe better. I'll go into detail more.
Straight out of the box the kit is decent but not great. Comparing the Gibson to a SS Borla system I bought for a different vehicle a few years ago I give it about a 6 out of 10. The main pipe (and I'm assuming muffler) are SS, but the hangers and other components are mild steel. Where the hangers and pipe were welded was simply painted silver. My Borla system was full SS. The kit comes with everything you need except a way to connect the rear ground strap and the exhaust gaskets from the Cats to the rest of the system.
I had an extremely long wait. Ordered from a place off Fleabay to save around $50-100 and with their lack of communication and Gibson being on back-order for a pipe I waited about 26 days for it to arrive.
Triff explained that it would be a very tight fit. Indeed it was. The front Y pipe and Muffler go up without issue. Drop the spare tire and the fun begins with the rear pipe. A lift is handy but not necessary. I had the right side up on car ramps and without the spare tire I was able to get the exhaust wiggled in. This is when the fun started. Directions say to point the muffler exhaust out to the 1 oclcock position (center inlet & offset outlet). Then everything should just "line up". No matter what I couldn't get the parts to line up and have the rear most hanger align with its mounting holes. If the holes lined up then the pipes were too long, if the pipes were perfect the hanger was like 3" past its mount.
I ended up cutting about 1.5" of pipe from the Y and 1" off each end of the muffler. The pipes just didn't seem to go in all the way. Doing that allowed me to get everything lined up but now the hanger was too long (its welded to an exhaust clamp and not part of the system its-self). Had to cut 1.5" out of that and reweld it back together. Now everything fit except the exhaust rested on the rear most portion of the rear cross-member. After abandoning the idea of using another exhaust hanger to pull it up 1/8-1/4" I created an aluminum 1/8" spacer for the exhaust to rub against figuring it will wear out long before the exhaust will.
End of the story is I give it about a 4 out of 10 overall. I'm not a professional mechanic by trade but I don't consider myself inept either. I'm thinking a dimension was mis-calculated in a rush to fill the back ordered exhaust (specifically the length of the rear pipe). Then in my attempt to adjust I over adjusted requiring the spacer and what not. The sound overall is not loud. At idle its a bit of a low grumble but not loud at all, at WOT its got more volume but nothing like a borla, flowmaster 40 or anything but I also have an intake that interferes with hearing just the exhaust. I personally would have like a bit more volume but living in a neighborhood I am ok with it as is. My personal rating is based primarily on materials and installation. I would have called up Gibson support but it would have been non-existent on Thanksgiving Holiday. Its in, I'm fine with it, time will tell. My stock exhaust is still in pristine condition if I need to go back to it. Although with that gnarly flat spot I don't exactly desire to.
****check the gallery in my sig for pics****
Straight out of the box the kit is decent but not great. Comparing the Gibson to a SS Borla system I bought for a different vehicle a few years ago I give it about a 6 out of 10. The main pipe (and I'm assuming muffler) are SS, but the hangers and other components are mild steel. Where the hangers and pipe were welded was simply painted silver. My Borla system was full SS. The kit comes with everything you need except a way to connect the rear ground strap and the exhaust gaskets from the Cats to the rest of the system.
I had an extremely long wait. Ordered from a place off Fleabay to save around $50-100 and with their lack of communication and Gibson being on back-order for a pipe I waited about 26 days for it to arrive.
Triff explained that it would be a very tight fit. Indeed it was. The front Y pipe and Muffler go up without issue. Drop the spare tire and the fun begins with the rear pipe. A lift is handy but not necessary. I had the right side up on car ramps and without the spare tire I was able to get the exhaust wiggled in. This is when the fun started. Directions say to point the muffler exhaust out to the 1 oclcock position (center inlet & offset outlet). Then everything should just "line up". No matter what I couldn't get the parts to line up and have the rear most hanger align with its mounting holes. If the holes lined up then the pipes were too long, if the pipes were perfect the hanger was like 3" past its mount.
I ended up cutting about 1.5" of pipe from the Y and 1" off each end of the muffler. The pipes just didn't seem to go in all the way. Doing that allowed me to get everything lined up but now the hanger was too long (its welded to an exhaust clamp and not part of the system its-self). Had to cut 1.5" out of that and reweld it back together. Now everything fit except the exhaust rested on the rear most portion of the rear cross-member. After abandoning the idea of using another exhaust hanger to pull it up 1/8-1/4" I created an aluminum 1/8" spacer for the exhaust to rub against figuring it will wear out long before the exhaust will.
End of the story is I give it about a 4 out of 10 overall. I'm not a professional mechanic by trade but I don't consider myself inept either. I'm thinking a dimension was mis-calculated in a rush to fill the back ordered exhaust (specifically the length of the rear pipe). Then in my attempt to adjust I over adjusted requiring the spacer and what not. The sound overall is not loud. At idle its a bit of a low grumble but not loud at all, at WOT its got more volume but nothing like a borla, flowmaster 40 or anything but I also have an intake that interferes with hearing just the exhaust. I personally would have like a bit more volume but living in a neighborhood I am ok with it as is. My personal rating is based primarily on materials and installation. I would have called up Gibson support but it would have been non-existent on Thanksgiving Holiday. Its in, I'm fine with it, time will tell. My stock exhaust is still in pristine condition if I need to go back to it. Although with that gnarly flat spot I don't exactly desire to.
****check the gallery in my sig for pics****